Through Good Times and Bad
by Megs
Summary: Another fic about Snape falling in love! Yeah! I actually hate this story, but you can read it if you want! :-)
1. Default Chapter Title

_Through Good Times and Bad_

_Author's Note: If you don't like this, please let me know in an uninsulting way. I know it's horrible. I think it started out well, then it just kind of fell apart. So, like I said, if you don't like it, tell me 'cause I've got a Lupin-fic all planned out. :-) Oh yes, I know that there's a lot of mistakes in this. Particularly with grammer.... I was worried about it while I was writing it, but I'm planning to change it soon. More's still coming! :-)_

"All essays are to be two rolls of parchment long and turned in on Thursday." Severus Snape barked as the last class of the day clambered out of the classroom. Ron Weasley grumbled loudly, but inaudibly. 

"Do you wish to share that, Weasley?" Severus asked calmly. 

"No, sir." was the reply as Ron hurried out the door before another comment or question could be added. 

Severus sighed, thinking about how disrespectful those Gryffindors could be. He pulled out the stack of tests that the fifth years had taken that day and began to grade. Just as he finished marking the fifth test of the stack (all had been D's and F's so far), a knock was heard at the door. 

"Come in." he said angrily, pursing his lips, annoyed at being interrupted. Professor Dumbledore walked into the room. 

"If you aren't busy, Severus," he began, eyeing the pile of tests, "I would like for you to come with me to my office now. Business." He explained. 

"No, of course I'm not too busy!" Severus quickly stood up, unpursing his lips, ruffled at speaking to the Headmaster in such a way. 

"Good Dumbledore said gratefully. "We must go now. We don't want to keep her waiting long." 

Severus, puzzled, prepared to inquire about the last statement, but never got a chance, for Dumbledore turned quickly and walked out, robes fluttering behind him. Severus followed. 

Walking briskly to catch up with Dumbledore, Severus inquired, "Who, may I ask will be waiting for us, Headmaster?" 

"A student teacher." Dumbledore replied as he hurried down the corridor. "She will be helping you with your classes. Once a week I ask for you to give her permission to teach at least one class. You, of course, will watch her and give her tips afterward. Ah." Dumbledore stopped in front of a statue. "Lemon drop!" Severus followed him into his office. 

"Hello!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. Next to Dumbledore's desk stood a nervous looking girl, though it was impossible to tell how nervous she was, as her back was turned while she stared out the window, wringing her hands. She whisked around quickly. "Hello!" she said with a nervous smile. 

"Severus, meet Kate Korvon. Kate, this is Severus Snape, the Potions teacher here at Hogwarts." Dumbledore sat at his desk unwrapping a lemon drop as he introduced them. 

"It's an honor, sir." Kate said politely, nodding her head at Severus as a bit of nervousness left her voice. Severus returned her words with a nod, unable to speak, for the shock of seeing her hadn't subsided yet. 

She was tall, thin, and slender with dark, curling black hair down slightly past her shoulders, light brown eyes that sparkled merrily, and a beautiful face with a dimple on her left cheek, giving the impression that she was always ready to burst into laughter. Her clothes were simple: soft gray robes and her hair was not done fancily. It was simply pulled back in a braid to keep it away from her face. 

"Well, that seems to be all!" Dumbledore said, shuffling through Kate's papers. "You start tomorrow. Severus, why don't you show Kate around and explain things to her." 

"You certainly like those, don't you sire?" Kate asked, eyeing the next lemon drop Dumbledore was unwrapping. He laughed. 


	2. Default Chapter Title

_Through Good Times and Bad ~ Part Two_

"And I think that's about it." Severus said, looking around to make sure he hadn't forgotten to tell Kate anything. 

"Professor? One more thing…." Kate said as Severus sat down and continued grading tests. 

"Yes?" He looked up. 

"Umm, where's the closest bathroom?" She laughed. All nervousness had left her face and voice. 

"Out the door on the left. Fifth door down. Right side of the hall." 

"Oh. Thanks!" She bolted out the door. 

The door opened again a few minutes later as she stepped in. 

"So, are you going to teach me about teaching?" She laughed as the phrase "teach me about teaching" came out. 

"The best way to learn is to watch and try. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye." Severus ended the conversation quickly, knowing that he wouldn't be able to finish grading his papers with her pretty face hovering above him. 

"Yes. Well then, goodbye!" She turned and skipped cheerfully out the door. Severus watched her leave and continued staring in that direction long after the door had clicked shut behind her. After a while, he shook his had and turned back to the stack of papers on his desk. 

"Wrong. Wrong, wrong." He muttered, marking with his red pen. "Ah, right!" Through all of this time he was unable to get the image of Kate's face out of his mind. 

~*~

Kate stood with a horrified look on her face as she watched Professor Snape teach. 

"Longbottom! What did you do this time?" Severus snarled, looking from Neville Longbottom's overflowing cauldron to his round, pink face. Neville whimpered while shrinking into his seat. Kate gave him a pitying look. 

"I think I know, Professor. It's really quite an easy mistake to make. Mr. Longbottom simply added too many bat spleens and…." She cut herself off when the look Severus gave her reminded her that she was supposed to be listening, not speaking. Severus turned back to Neville. 

"Detention! From size to eight this evening in my office, Longbottom." Kate, once again, found herself interfering. 

"Sir, don't you think that mistakes don't deserve a punishment? Maybe a little extra help would do Mr. Longbottom some good…but now a punishment." For a moment, Severus looked like he was going to be angry, but his frown suddenly lessened. 

"Perhaps you're right, Ms. Korvon!" he said almost cheerfully. Neville gave Severus a trembling, but relieved stare while his cauldron continued overflowing and his face continued getting redder. Snape watched Neville for a second, then turned to address Kate. 

"Instead of detention from six to eight, you will give Longbottom special lessons every Monday at that time. It will be good practice. He waited for her answer as he cleared the spilled potion and stopped the overflowing cauldron with one swift wave of his wand. 

"Yes, sir." Kate smiled at Neville while Severus turned to him for his answer. Neville gave a terrified squeak, which was taken as an agreement. 

"Poor Neville. Well, just as long as Snape's not here when he comes." Ron Weasley muttered, leaning over the cauldron that separated them, to his partner, Harry Potter. Harry nodded, busy adding the final ingredients. 

"Potter! Weasley! No talking!" 

Kate, who had not seen Harry talk, decided to say nothing, feeling she had spoken up enough for a class period. 

She had gotten quite a shock when the famous Harry Potter had walked into the room, but decided to show it when she saw the look of detest Severus had given him. She didn't understand why Harry deserved such a look and was determined to find out. 

"He's odd." Kate thought, looking at Severus. "In order to work with him, I must understand him. Understand why he gives Harry Potter those looks, bullies Neville Longbottom, and the reasons for all those other odd things he does. I must know, and I'm determined to find out." Whenever Kate Korvon is determined for something, she gets it one way or another. Silently, she watched the fourth years file out of the classroom as the bell rang and Severus give homework orders trying to find out all she could. 

~*~

Finally, the last class of that dreary, rainy Tuesday left. Severus looked at Kate curiously. Through the last two classes, her forehead, brown, and haw had been set and her eyes held a look of determination. He packed up all the papers that needed grading and lesson plans in his briefcase, then headed to his office. For some reason, Kate followed. 

"Yes?" he asked as they entered his office. He had expected to lose Kate on the way, but she had continued to follow him. 

"I want to know all about you." was her blunt answer. Severus stared at her for a moment, startled at the unexpected question. However, he recovered quickly. 

"What do you want to know and why, Ms. Korvon?" 

"Call me Kate, sir. I want to know everything about you. Your whole biography. In order to work and get along with you for the rest of the year, I need to know everything." 

"There's certainly a lot to tell…. I would have to tell you little bits at a time." 

"Then will you tell me some now and the rest later?" Kate looked at him inquiringly. 

He hesitated for a moment, then, deciding she wasn't giving up, agreed. 

"I'll start now. Before it's time for dinner. But only if you agree to tell me just as much about yourself." She nodded, agreeing, then added, before he could start, "Leave out nothing." And so he began…. 

~*~

"I was born in a little town outside of London. My father, Spiren, was a wizard. My mother, Julie, however, was not and got quite a shock when she found out about my father, yet took it quite well. I was their only child. 

"When I was three, my father died of a heart attack. He had been outside taking a walk. When my mother reached him (I assume that I was in my crib), he was already too far gone for any magic to save him, had she been able to perform a significant spell. 

"After my father died, my mother's only goal was to raise me the best that she could. Unfortunately, I had the temper of my father and continuously tried her patience. Yet she continued being kind and patient; hardly ever getting angry 

"Because Mother couldn't be completely sure if I had magical powers, she sent me to the best private Muggle school she could find. If any harm was ever done to me, she would comfort me by telling me stories and things like that, then, somehow, make sure that everything would be ok without my being embarrassed. 

"When I was seven, my mother began having sharp pains in her stomach. She insisted that they were nothing, but I knew better when she began clutching her stomach and crying out many times a day. Soon, she couldn't get out of bed and her shouts rang through the house. Mother told me to call the doctor. I obeyed knowing it was serious. When the doctor came, he said that it was cancer; that we should have called sooner; that it was too late. Yet I still hung on a hope that he was wrong. Where would I go if my mother died? To live with one of my uncles? Surely not! They had never liked my father or me. When they heard my mother was sick, they did nothing but send a card, though she was their own sister. 

"After a month or two, I had to fare for myself. My mother could do nothing but yell, mumble, and talk incoherently. One day, when I went upstairs to say goodnight to her, she didn't reply. She lay there, still and pale as a corpse. I immediately called the hospital, not letting myself believe she was dead. It was on the day of her funeral that the reality hit me, cold and startling as if I had fallen through thin ice and plunged into the dark, freezing water beneath it. 

"I felt that everything was my fault. I should have called the doctor sooner. I should have insisted that she stayed in the hospital, even though she pleaded with the doctor to let her stay home. But I didn't, for her words always rang in my ears…." 

What those words were, Kate didn't know, for Severus stopped, overcome by emotion. Kate looked at him oddly. Suddenly, the bell rang. 

"Dinner!" Severus gratefully jumped out of his seat and was followed by Kate, who continued to give him pondering looks. 


End file.
